Little Moments
by Aileen Autarkeia
Summary: Oneshots from the Alternate universe. Lots of fluff, much cuteness, some kick-a** moments. Please read Alternate first.
1. Chapter 1

This is the first in a series of oneshots. Some are not completed and may not be published.

Thank you so much for 41 reviews! You all are amazing. This is dedicated to all of my faithful reviewers.

Enjoy!

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"Clint, have you seen Steve?" Riley asked as she stepped into the main lounge, brow furrowed in concern.

"Not at all today. Why? Isn't he beating up punching bags?" Clint asked from his place on the couch, drinking something while watching TV. Tony was over at the bar, as usual. Natasha was missing, as was Thor.

"No. Jarvis, can you do a scan of Avenger's Tower for him?"

The AI was silent for a moment, before finally speaking. "I cannot detect Mr. Rogers' presence, Miss Star. Would you like me to scan for him through security cameras and other devices?"

"No... one second." Riley pulled out her iPhone and checked something. Her face morphed from worry to understanding in a second.

"Oh..." she murmured, and automatically turned around to go back to the elevator.

"Where is Star-Spangled?" Tony called over.

"Not telling. He has secrets too, Tony," Riley said as she walked away.

The elevator took her down to the garage, where she found her Maserati waiting for her. She smiled, hopped in, and put the hood up. With a push of a button, her 23 birthday present roared out of the garage and onto the street.

The drive only took a few minutes as she hopped on the main highway into Brooklyn. The sun was out and she put the top down as she drove.

She pulled into a smaller neighborhood and arrived at a small park. It was practically empty, with a single mother and child on the slide, and a lone figure on the swings.

She parked and got out, locking the door behind her as she passed the woman and her little boy. Riley came to a halt in front of Steve, who looked up, startled, as her sensible shoes entered his field of view.

She abruptly pulled him up to his feet and wrapped both arms around his neck in a tight hug. He was silent for a moment before he returned her hug.

"Hey," she whispered softly.

"Hi," he said.

They sat back down on the swings. Riley took his hand silently as she sat there.

"So this is where you used to hang out," she said, looking around. "It's gorgeous."

"Used to get bullied here a lot," he said bitterly.

They stayed silent for a few more minutes, before Riley spoke up. "It's the anniversary of your going under, isn't it."

He sighed heavily and nodded.

"But it wasn't just that, it was the disaster on our last mission."

"I don't know what it was!" Steve burst out in frustration. "I was fine, and then we got locked in the freezer and my mind just froze up."

Riley sighed. "Don't blame yourself. The mission was already gone to heck in a handbasket. You couldn't have saved it."

He sighed. His head dropped more.

They were quiet for a moment, then-

"Clint hates sand."

Steve raised his head a bit. "Wha-"

"Clint hates sand, and Natasha can't stand the sound of bells. Tony refuses to go underwater. Any scent of cinnamon sends me into a panic. Thor doesn't like the dark. Bruce refuses to even look at a certain shade of green."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"We all have triggers. Yours is the cold- after being frozen. Mine is cinnamon- my friend and I tried the cinnamon challenge and my throat swelled up and I couldn't breathe. I won't tell you the reasons behind the rest, but you aren't alone."

"How do you know all this?" Steve asked.

Riley paused to consider her answer. "Well... I suppose it's because all of you look to me as... a sort of house-mother. That's the best comparison I can come up with."

"Why?"

"God, Steve, I don't know. I try to make myself available and I don't interrupt when they start talking. I guess also because they don't want their teammates to know their weaknesses."

"But- you're a teammate too, just as much as I am."

"But I'm not an 'original'. I'm a new addition to the team."

"You're still a teammate," Steve said patiently.

Riley smiled and looked over at him. "Thank you. It means a lot."

He stood up and stretched a bit. The park was empty now. "Ready to go home?"

"I'll meet you there," she said warmly, hugging him tightly before moving to her car, spring in her step and a song humming from her lips.


	2. Chapter 2

So, I'm really sorry that I haven't updated this in a while but I've been reaaaaaally busy... Yeah bad excuse I know. But this is really funny so enjoy!

WARNING WARNING WARNING: HUGE SPOILER FOR HARRY POTTER AHEAD. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. DON'T KILL ME.

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"Pool party! 67th floor!" Tony shouted as he passed Riley and Steve on his way somewhere.

Riley sighed and glanced over at Steve. "You going?" she asked casually, grabbing a bowl and yanking out the cereal from the cabinet.

Steve shrugged. "I try to keep away from water. Bad experience."

Riley nodded in understanding and sat next to him on the couch. "I understand. I'm probably not gonna get in anyways. Feeling a bit bleargh today."

"What?"

"Not feeling great," she clarified.

There was a brief awkward silence, before the door to the stairwell slammed open. Riley yelped and jumped, glancing over her shoulder, only to stop as Jessica screamed, "POOL PARTY!" and ran towards the elevator, dragging a rather bored-looking Loki.

He caught their attention and held one hand up to his temple, forming a gun with his thumb, index and middle finger. *Shoot me,* he mouthed at them.

Riley burst out laughing and tried to muffle it instantly by clamping a hand over her mouth. Steve laughed at the two's antics and turned back to his own breakfast.

They split a few minutes later and Riley went to change into her beach-bathing clothes- deep blue tank top, khaki shorts, towel and sunglasses and of course, her Kindle. Underneath she wore a black and white bikini- just in case she changed her mind about swimming. She took the elevator down to the 67th floor and stepped out of the elevator into a sort of tropical paradise.

There was a large pool in the center of the room. There were beach chairs scattered everywhere, with a few umbrellas shading tables. Somehow Tony had managed to make the lighting look like the summer sun someplace warm- Hawaii?- and the temperature was rather warm. Not extremely hot, but upper nineties at least.

Riley waved as she wandered over to a lounge chair relatively close to the pool. Loki was seated on the edge of the pool, one leg drawn up underneath him, and the other barely touching the water. He was holding a paperback book and reading. He raised one hand in the merest acknowledgement of her arrival.

Jessica was being Jessica and playing on the inflatable pool toys. Somewhere she had gotten hold of an inflatable alligator and was sitting on its back, riding it like a rocking horse. She, too, waved, but yelled as Tony came up from nowhere and flipped her off the toy.

Natasha was reclining on a lounger, sunglasses on, ignoring the boys. She casually propelled herself away from them every now and then when they got too rowdy.

Riley drifted past a potted palm tree and paused. She looked up at Clint, sitting easily in the top branches, watergun in hand and aimed directly at her. "Uh, no," she called up to him. He swore and dropped out of the tree, sprinting past her to another tree and climbing up it like a monkey.

Thor was splashing everyone who got within five feet of him. Tony was splashing right back at him and catching Loki sometimes in the process, who would simply hold up a hand and repel the water away from him.

Steve was doing laps along the edge of the pool, Riley noticed, as she went over to a lounger and sat down. She pulled out her Kindle, but didn't turn it on for a moment, just watching their big dysfunctional family playing around.

Suddenly she paused to count heads. *One, two... five... seven.* "Hey, where's Bruce?" she called to the pool in general.

"He didn't want to leave his lab. Something about it being 'too stressful'," Tony shouted to her, before he returned to splashing Thor.

Finally she flipped her Kindle on and continued rereading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Ironically she had just reached the second task.

A loud splashing sound made her look up, just in time to see Jessica go under. Slightly worried, she made to put her Kindle away, but Loki sighed, stood up, and grabbed her hand to pull her out of the pool.

Jessica spluttered loudly as he pulled her out and made her sit on the edge of the pool deck. "I can't swim!" she yelled.

"If you can't swim why're you in the pool in the first place?" Riley called.

At this Jessica just stuck out her tongue.

Riley went back to her reading, glancing up occasionally to catch snapshots of the others in the pool. At one point she looked up just in time to see Steve get pulled into the splash wars between Thor and Tony. She laughed and grew tired of the lounger.

Silently she retrieved a small water pistol and went to grab a drink of water, where she filled up the small gun. Riley headed back over and moved to the edge of the pool. "Don't splash me," she warned the guys. Clint had grown tired of his spider monkey act and was now in the pool as well.

She sat down and kept reading. Riley ignored the guys for the most part, only glancing up to catch a snippet of Jessica and Loki's one-sided conversation.

"So... whatcha reading?" Jessica asked politely.

Loki barely glanced up. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

Jessica slowly started grinning, then said quickly, "Harry dies!" and dove under the water.

Loki stared after her, then at his place in the book. Riley didn't have to read lips to know what he murmured after her- "I hate you."

"She didn't spoil mu- No sir!" Riley shouted midway through her sentence, whipped out her water pistol, and shot Tony straight in the shoulder with her icy water gun. "No sneaking up on me!"

"Cold!" Tony yelled, squealing like a little girl. "Where'd you get that water? It's COLD!"

Riley checked her pistol. Satisfied that it was empty, she stowed it and said innocently, "The water fountain. Why? Was it really that cold, little girl?"

"Oh, that is IT. Thor! Come help me out!" Tony shouted at the demi-god as he slowly made his way towards Riley.

Thor swam across the pool fairly quickly, and poor Riley couldn't keep her eyes on both of them. Steve was too far away to help, and so when Tony grabbed her leg to keep her from escaping, she could only shout, "No sir! I am NOT in the mood to get wet- EEP!"

Thor reached her other side and together the billionaire and the demi-god hauled her into the pool. Riley flipped underwater and came up facing them, spluttering and coughing as she brushed her hair out of her face.

"Not fair! That was SO unfair!" she shouted angrily. "Teaming up on me- seriously?"

She dove under the water and swam across to the exit, spinning a few times to make her hair stay out of her face as she surfaced. Riley swiftly clambered out of the pool and made her way over to her dry towel, wrapping it around her shoulders.

Steve swam over to where she was sitting. "You ok? Sorry I couldn't help," he said, concern evident in his voice.

"Sorry that you couldn't help stop them? Or sorry that you didn't help?" Riley asked mischievously.

He sputtered for an answer for a few moments, before Riley laughed and ruffled his wet hair. "Don't worry about it. It isn't your fault. Though if you could help me get revenge..."

"Lady Riley!" Thor boomed as he climbed out of the pool and made his way towards her. Riley quickly stood up and wrapped her towel around her waist, securing it firmly so she could hug the upset demi-god. "I am sincerely sorry for making you so unhappy-"

He didn't seem to notice that he had just knocked Loki into the pool- book and all. Riley stifled a laugh and hugged Thor gently, thankful he had grown to realize his strength was rather above average for her and Jessica and- well, everyone.

Jessica furiously paddled her alligator over to where Loki was surfacing as Thor jumped back in the pool to continue the splash war. "SACRILEGE!" she shouted, upon seeing the book in the water.

Loki picked up the book and tapped it with one finger. It was immediately dry, leaving Jessica to stare in awe as he placed the book on the pool deck and shoved himself out, perfectly dry. "I wish I could do that!" Jessica shouted and hauled herself out to sit next to him.

The Avengers played around for a few more minutes, before Tony got out of the pool to go get a scotch. As he unnecessarily passed behind Loki and Jessica, he kicked Jessica in the back, sending her tumbling head over heels into the pool.

Riley started to laugh, before realizing that Jessica wasn't resurfacing. In fact, she seemed momentarily stunned. Riley shoved herself to her feet and shed her towel, readying herself to dive in.

Jessica surfaced for a moment, coughing and yelling something unintelligibly, before she went under again. "You idiot!" Riley yelled at Tony from across the room as she prepared to dive. "You knocked the breath out of her!"

Loki put his book down with a sigh and snapped his fingers, pointing to Jessica, still writhing underwater in the pool. She was suddenly rising to the surface, before popping out and landing like a fish next to Loki,

Riley sat back down and picked up her book again. "Now back to your scheduled programming," she called loudly.

Jessica was still gasping for air after a few minutes, so Riley lazily called, "I think she needs CPR, Loki."

Quite suddenly Jessica's breathing got much worse. Riley had to put her Kindle down she was laughing so hard. Loki just gave a long-suffering sigh, snapped his fingers again, and stood up to help Jessica to her feet. He patted her on the back a few times and then sat right back down to keep reading.

"That hurts, Loki. I could've died and you care more about Harry Potter than me?"

"Shut up. I've just reached the part where they're in Gringotts," Loki said as he flipped a page.

"Ooh! That's my favorite part!" Jessica sat down right beside him and rested her chin on his shoulder, eagerly watching the book.

Riley sighed and put her Kindle away permanently, leaning back to watch the others. Clint was back in his 'nest' in the palm tree, gun in hand, shooting short bursts of water at Natasha's sunglasses. She was completely unresponsive until about the 32nd time, when she produced a SuperSoaker from absolutely nowhere and blasted him out of the tree.

Tony ignored Clint's outraged yells and swam over to where Riley was. She eyed him cautiously and pulled her legs out of the pool.

"So, John Carter, care to participate in a contest?"

Riley shot him an annoyed glance. "I'm not John Carter, smart aleck. And what kind of contest?"

"How long can you hold your breath?" he said.

"Um... sure. Who else is participating?"

"So far, me and Capsicle. Point Break's judging."

"Ok. I'll join." Riley shed her towel and slid back into the water.

"Ok! I got Hoppy to jo-" Riley slammed his head into the water briefly and glared at him.

"Sorry!" Tony said as he resurfaced. "Anyways, Riley wants to join, so here we go! On the count three-"

"Three! Two! And one!" Thor shouted.

Riley took a deep breath and submerged, diving all the way to the bottom of the pool. She settled down there and looked up at the surface, only to see Tony hadn't even attempted to join her on the bottom and was instead sitting at the edge of the pool, doing something- she assumed drinking.

A light tap on her shoulder made her turn around. Steve was also sitting on the bottom, grinning at her. Riley laughed, letting a small trail of bubbles escape her mouth, then settled down in front of him, using her arms to keep her tethered to the bottom.

They sat there, just staring at each other for a while, before Riley grew bored and turned around to see what the others were doing from below the surface. She could easily see Natasha's float and watched as the assassin casually propelled herself away from their area. Thor was swimming above them. Suddenly the water warped slightly and Riley looked up, alarmed, to see that Clint had just jumped in the pool.

He stuck his head below the surface to see how they were doing and waved casually. Riley waved back cheerfully and closed her eye for a bit.

She opened her eyes to see spots clouding her view. Riley started and shoved off the bottom, swimming for the surface before she passed out.

Seconds before the tunnel vision closed in, she broke the surface, gasping for air. Distantly she heard, "Riley, don't die on me!" from Jessica. She raised a hand to let her friend know she was ok.

"An admirable effort! One minute and twenty two seconds!" Thor said, holding up a small waterproof watch. Riley dove back down to keep Steve company while he kept going.

Two air breaks for her later, Steve finally surfaced. "Well done! Five minutes and fourteen seconds!" Thor said. "You win!"

"By how much?" Steve asked, panting a bit for air.

"A lot," Riley said flatly. "I came up after a minute and twenty two seconds. Tony didn't even attempt to go underwater."

Steve laughed, grabbed Riley around her waist, and flipped her into the pool.

She yelped and came up behind him, jumping on his shoulders to shove him underwater, then vaulting off into the pool before he came up. She swam out and grabbed her towel. "I'm done guys," she called. "Go ahead and keep swimming." And off she went to take a shower.

Epilogue:

"Jessica!" Riley shouted, nearly an hour later. "Let's go already!" She frowned.

"FRED! NOOOOO!" Jessica yelled, who still sat next to Loki. Riley swore she even saw a minuscule tear forming on the demi-god's eye.

"Oh dear..." Riley muttered under her breath.


End file.
